Instead of answering, the goddess waved her hand, and a vision of Rummy appeared between us, a copy of the womanbeside me floating like a specter herself, entangled in the light beams and smoke emitting from the goddess.
Though this version of her was much, much younger. Her blonde hair was cut to her shoulders, with strands sticking to the dried blood and tears on her face. She was kneeling over a woman.
A woman with sharp cheekbones and plump lips. A woman who looked almost identical to Rummy. Her mother.
And she was dead.
Horror dripped over Rummy’s features. She stared at the woman, hands shaking, as if she was seeing death for the very first time.
“Rummy,” I breathed. “What is this?”
She shivered beside me. “Stop this,” she demanded. “STOP IT!”
“This is only the beginning,” Astraea said softly. “Keep watching.”
“I don’t need to see this.” Rummy suddenly morphed into a version of herself that couldn’t be more different from the cool, collected female I knew. Her voice shook as she clenched her shaking hands at her sides.
The vision shifted then. It was no longer an image playing out in front of us. Suddenly, it felt as though it was happening there. The turmoil twisting in Rummy’s chest, the grief pouring from her heart, were palpable, making it hard to breathe.
Then—mixed in that grief—came the darkness.
I felt that, too. The power that lit up in her veins was undeniable.
“Goddess above,” I breathed as sensations warred inside me. “Is this real?”
Astraea only responded in riddles.“Where chaos reigns and hearts beat, through the veil of love and deceit. Darknessbecomes the chain that binds, love discovers the thread that unwinds.”
“I am cursed,” Rummy whispered, the words broken, as she stepped toward the now fading vision. “I’m diseased. I get that. I’ve accepted my fate, and I’ve done everything in my power to keep that part of me hidden. I killed her, okay? I killed my own damn mother. I’ve relived that horror every single day in my mind. So why is this happening now? Why me?”
Astraea’s ethereal features softened. “A force both dark and light. This is your destiny, Rummy. The power that Cornelius will possess if he moves forward will be world-ending. You can stop him. Use both the dark and the light, and you will prevail.”
Rummy’s focus was locked on Astraea, but I couldn’t look away from her. My mind reeled, piecing together the images I’d just seen with the words the goddess had spoken.
She had magic. Not just any magic, either. I felt it as if it were my own. She haddeathmagic. Just as Cornelius did.
Before I could formulate a single question, Astraea’s figure faded before us. The wind strengthened once more, causing the beams of light that held her floating body to dissipate.
Rummy raised her hands in protest, but it was too late.
The Goddess of the East was gone.
“You’re telling me that you havemagic?And you’veknown about it all this time?”
All those masks, all the lying.She’s had magic this entire fucking time.
I brushed off my hypocrisy. This was different. I had a feeling Rummy was hiding something, and I’d been right all along.
Rummy sucked on her bottom lip, those large, innocent eyes fixed on me.
Darkness becomes the chain that binds.It all made sense.
“Rummy,” I said, lowering my voice. “Say something.”
Instead of speaking, instead of fighting or protesting or telling me that the goddess was lying, she sucked in a sharp, shaking breath. “What do you want me to say, Jessiah?”
Frustration and hurt warred in my chest, my hands balling into fists at my sides. “I want you to say that I’m wrong. I want you to tell me that you haven’t been lying about your magic! Say anything, really, Rummy. Help me understand why you’ve been lying to us for years!”
Her nostrils flared. Even in the dim light of the caves, the way her shoulders tensed was obvious.
